This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

ORNGE fined for improper pilot training

Ontario’s air ambulance service has been fined twice by Transport Canada for allowing pilots to fly without proper training, federal records show

An Ornge helicopter takes off from the roof of St. Michael's Hospital in 2012. The agency's flight operations have been in the spotlight since a crash last year. (DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR file photo)

OTTAWA—Ontario’s air ambulance service has been fined twice by Transport Canada for allowing pilots to fly without proper training, federal records show.

ORNGE was slapped with two violations of Canadian Aviation Regulations for allowing pilots to fly in 2013 without having fulfilled the necessary training requirements and had to pay a $4,000 fine for each offence.

ORNGE’s aviation operations have been in the spotlight since the May 2013 crash of a Sikorsky S-76C helicopter at Moosonee, Ont., killed the two pilots and two paramedics onboard.

Though not related to the fatal crash, the enforcement action by Transport Canada shows that the agency has been under increased scrutiny by the federal regulator.

ORNGE spokesperson James MacDonald said it has paid the fines.

Article Continued Below

“ORNGE takes these matters seriously and accepts Transport Canada’s findings. We worked collaboratively with the regulator to ensure these matters were addressed as quickly as possible,” he said.

In the first case, a flight crew member in Moosonee was allowed to fly a Sikorsky S76A helicopter without having completed controlled flight into terrain avoidance training (CFIT) as required by ORNGE’s training manual, MacDonald said.

▶

Controlled flight into terrain happens when pilots inadvertently fly their aircraft into the ground, usually in conditions of poor visibility or darkness. It could be one of the causes of the May 2013 accident, which happened at night.

In the second infraction, a Sudbury-based AW139 helicopter pilot had not received technical ground training on the helicopter,” MacDonald said.

“Both pilots have received the appropriate training, and ORNGE now meets or exceeds the regulator’s requirements for CFIT training,” he said.

MacDonald said the agency has also taken steps to avoid a recurrence, including implementing an electronic system to track pilot training.

Transport Canada spokesperson Silvia Di Tiero said the shortcomings were found during a “process inspection” in June 2013, just weeks after the accident.

“The department issued two administrative monetary penalties to the company for issues identified in the process inspection. The company has addressed the issues,” she said.

The department came under fire in June during a meeting of the Commons transport committee when NDP MP Mike Sullivan questioned the apparent lack of enforcement action by Transport Canada on ORNGE.

“I want to know why Transport Canada is not bothering to enforce its own regulations,” Sullivan said.

But Martin Eley, director-general of civil aviation, told Sullivan the department had hit ORNGE with monetary penalties and suggested further fines could be coming if an ongoing investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada turns up further evidence of problems.

“We have applied monetary penalties to ORNGE. Certainly, if further evidence comes from the TSB, we will respond to that,” Eley told the committee in June.

“We went in there. We did inspections. Some things were corrected. We did apply monetary penalties.”

In May, ORNGE was hit with 17 health and safety charges alleging that the pilots at the controls of the helicopter that crashed in Moosonee were improperly trained, lacked experience in night operations and should never have been paired together.

Transport Canada has raised questions about ORNGE’s air operations in the past. In December 2012, Transport Canada inspector Ken Walsh asked about ORNGE’s policy to avoid pairing two inexperienced pilots on the same flight. And he also asked about so-called “black hole” procedures, used when the combination of night sky and lack of ground lights leaves pilots with few visual references.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com